Best Blogs of December

Our Best Blogs of December includes stories about keeping your best employees, the current status of the start up ecosystem and biases affecting your company. That’s a lot of great stuff to read while waiting in line to buy those Hatchimals!

What’s driving your employees away?

From the restaurant industry to Silicon Valley, people leave their jobs for largely the same reasons, according to business consultant Carly Gurthrie.

Many folks quit their job or start looking for a new one because a company doesn’t foster a healthy work-life balance for its employees. Constantly asking employees to stay late or requiring they answer every email they get during off hours is a great way to drive talented people out the door.

Another big reason people leave their job, according to Guthrie, is a loss of confidence in either their boss or the company itself. If someone doesn’t think their boss is looking out for their best interests, or they think the company has gone downhill, they’re likely to start browsing internet job boards.

Tech entrepreneurs are bullish but guarded

While tech entrepreneurs say their industry is in a bit of a bubble right now, they also appear to be optimistic about the future, according to a new survey from First Round.

In the survey, which included more than 700 founders, 57 percent of respondents said the tech startup industry is currently in a bubble, down from 73 percent in 2015. Whether it is real or just perception, it indicates the tech bubble is deflating a bit.

The survey also found entrepreneurs are concerned about sourcing the best talent. This is the second year in a row that talent acquisition has been the top concern in the First Round survey. Other top concerns for this year included the ability to gain customers and maintaining a good work/life balance.

Also for the second year in a row, entrepreneurs in the survey said investors currently have more negotiating power than founders. This year, two-thirds of respondents said investors hold the power, while only 54 percent said so for 2015.

Check your bias

Biased thinking is a hot topic these days, especially on your social media feeds. However, making assumptions about ideas, situations and other people is a very real thing.

One type of bias that is particularly relevant to the work environment is the ‘halo effect.’ This occurs when a person’s strong first impression sticks so much so, poor performances later are overlooked or dismissed. The opposite of this is the ‘horn effect’ where a bad first impression isn’t overcome by subsequent stellar performances.

Another work bias is a tendency to push back against rules, known as reactance. An example of this is when an employee feels justified in taking unnecessary sick days after feeling mistreated.